LANSING — An inmate at Kinross Correctional Facility says hundreds of prisoners had returned to their housing units and were peaceful on Sept. 10 until more than 100 officers, armed with shotguns and firing pepper spray, stormed the units and triggered anger and acts of vandalism.

“It could have been settled,” Kinross inmate Anthony Bates, who is serving 35-70 years for assault with intent to murder, told the Free Press in a telephone interview.

“When the officers came in, they caused chaos,” said Bates, 39, imprisoned for convictions arising from a 1996 incident in Wayne County. “It sparked the flame … (and) started a wildfire.”

Nobody was injured in the incident, which the corrections officers union has described as a riot, but Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz said did not rise to that level. Both the administration and the Michigan Corrections Organization union agree inmates set at least one fire, smashed numerous windows — one with a clothes dryer thrown through it — destroyed sinks, other fixtures and inmate files, and left at least one unit temporarily unlivable. Both also agree it was a serious incident that could have turned out much worse.

Anthony Bates(Photo: Michigan Department of Corrections)

Gautz said the vandalism erupted after inmates returned to their housing units following a peaceful yard demonstration. The trouble started, he said, as regular Kinross corrections officers — who do not carry guns — were pulled out of the housing units and armed emergency response team officers were sent in to round up about 50 inmates identified as ringleaders of the protest, so they could be moved to higher-security prisons.

Gautz agreed there was no vandalism until the emergency response teams entered the prison. But, he pointed out that the activation of armed Emergency Response Team officers inside Kinross can't justify inmates damaging the facility, near Kincheloe, in the Upper Peninsula.

“The damage would have all been avoided if a small number of prisoners hadn’t decided to break things,” Gautz said.

“Any attempt to blame anyone other than the prisoners themselves for their own destructive behavior should not be taken seriously."

Inmates, many of whom had not showed up to their prison jobs on Sept. 9 as part of a national prison protest, had a list of grievances that included prison wages, food and access to a system by which the governor can commute prisoners' sentences.

Tom Tylutki, president of the Michigan Corrections Organization, has disputed that inmates were peaceful after they returned to their housing units following the demonstration in the yard. Based on what officers who were on the scene told him, he said inmates were moving from one housing unit to another, which is against the rules, and remained so unruly that the few corrections officers left in the housing units until the ERTs arrived had reason to be concerned about potential violence.

Bates’ story that the housing units were peaceful and inmates thought their grievances were being investigated until armed officers poured into the facility is corroborated in letters written by two other inmates, which were provided to the Free Press by friends or relatives who asked that the inmates not be identified. One of the letters described threats from inmate leaders directed at prisoners who didn’t want to participate in work stoppages and the yard demonstration that preceded the vandalism.

In his interview, Bates and the other inmates in the letters they wrote also were consistent in saying inmates who were not identified as ringleaders and may not have even participated in the yard demonstration were left in the yard for several hours, in rain and cool temperatures, with their wrists zip tied behind their backs and unable to use a bathroom, while armed officers worked their way through the prison unit by unit.

The prisoners' accounts don't justify the vandalism, but they do raise questions about whether the damage could have been avoided through a less-confrontational approach to rounding up the suspected ringleaders.

Bates said prison wages of 74 cents to $3.34 per day, which haven't been increased in many years, are too low to pay for toiletries and other items that prisoners need to purchase.

Bates, who wouldn't say whether he participated in the demonstration in the yard, said it's possible some inmates were threatened with reprisals from other inmates if they refused to participate.

Gautz said officers and the ERTs responded "in a professional and responsible manner that reflected the training they received for handling such incidents," and "it is unacceptable for prisoners or others to try to rest blame for the damage done to housing units on the actions of our officers, who did a great job bringing this incident to a close without harm to prisoners or personnel."

Gautz said "all prisoners were taken outside their units until it was safe for them to return inside," after which "they were allowed to use the bathroom and they were given a hot meal."